NASA backs private firm to help supply space station

Virginia company wins $170 million contract to help keep the outpost working after shuttle fleet's retirement in 2010

MARK CARREAU, Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

Published 6:30 am, Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Photo: NASA

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Astronaut Rex Walheim holds onto a handrail on the Columbus laboratory and spreads his arms Friday. The shuttle could be ready to land by Wednesday.

Astronaut Rex Walheim holds onto a handrail on the Columbus laboratory and spreads his arms Friday. The shuttle could be ready to land by Wednesday.

Photo: NASA

NASA backs private firm to help supply space station

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NASA announced a $170 million agreement with Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va., on Tuesday for the development of a commercially operated spacecraft to launch supplies to the international space station following the shuttle's retirement.

Orbital joins SpaceX, of El Segundo, Calif., which signed a similar NASA agreement worth $278 million in August 2006, and five other companies working without funding on commercial cargo delivery.

The space agency considers the commercially provided delivery of food, water, clothing, scientific equipment and other supplies a cornerstone of sustained station operations after the shuttle is retired in 2010.

The White House called for an end to shuttle operations in the aftermath of the 2003 Columbia tragedy in order to refocus NASA on the human exploration of the moon and Mars. Without a U.S. commercial supplier, NASA will turn to Russia, Europe and Japan for the station's cargo missions.

The space agency's Commerical Orbital Transportation Services Project considered 13 proposals before making its selection, said Doug Cooke, NASA's deputy associate administrator for space exploration. Those with loosing submissions included Spacehab and Boeing's space exploration division, both with offices in Houston.

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Tuesday's selection of Orbital was prompted by NASA's October decision to terminate an August 2006 agreement with Rocketplane-Kistler of Oklahoma City worth $207 million. The termination came after Rocketplane was unable to raise adequate levels of private investment to leverage the NASA funding.

"This company had a very strong business plan and was evaluated very fairly with a high level of condfidence they could execute this program as proposed," said Cooke of Orbital.

In order to collect all of the assigned funding, Orbital must launch a demonstration mission to the station by December 2010.

The company plans to launch from Wallops Island, Va., an established NASA launch complex. It will use an upgraded version of the company's Taurus rocket. Suppies will be carried in an enclosure based on the multipurpose logisitics module, an Italian-fabricated spacecraft used to carry supplies to the station aboard the shuttle.

Rather than docking with the station, Orbital proposes to maneuver its cargo capsules close to the station. The station's robot arm will grapple the spacecraft and attach it to the outpost at an established berthing point.

SpaceX is working on a similar technique.

While it has not established the value of the delivery market it intends to create, NASA estimates the space station will require about 32,000 pounds of supplies annually.